Supreme Court justice (Alito) slams MO court, says it shows 'danger' of same-sex marriage decision

Earlier DU thread: US Supreme Court declines to decide legality of excluding jurors based on religion

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Source: Kansas City Star

Supreme Court justice slams MO court, says it shows ‘danger’ of same-sex marriage decision

Jonathan Shorman
Wed, February 21, 2024 at 3:24 PM EST·4 min read

A Missouri prison worker’s legal fight against on-the-job discrimination this week provided U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito — one of the court’s most conservative members — an opportunity to denounce the landmark decision recognizing same-sex marriage nationwide.

Jean Finney had worked as a corrections officer at the Western Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in St. Joseph since 2002, but after about eight years, the job started turning toxic.

A co-worker, the ex-husband of Finney’s romantic partner, undercut Finney on the job, sent disparaging texts about her status as a lesbian and, eventually, withheld information Finney needed to safely do her job. He spread rumors, a court later found, and lodged several complaints against her.

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“In this case, the court below reasoned that a person who still holds traditional religious views on questions of sexual morality is presumptively unfit to serve on a jury in a case involving a party who is a lesbian,” Alito wrote, referring to the Missouri appeals court.

“That holding exemplifies the danger that I anticipated in Obergefell v. Hodges … namely, that Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be ‘labeled as bigots and treated as such’ by the government.”

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-justice-slams-mo-202459341.html